Audio 4:27
Buzz calls for buzz about Mars

Will OckendenUpdated
Thu 9 May 2013, 7:11 PM AEST

Buzz Aldrin has appealed to the United States to lead the way to establishing a permanent human colony on Mars. The second man on the moon says much of the technology required for such a feat has already been developed, it just needs more testing.

Transcript

TIM PALMER: Pioneering astronaut Buzz Aldrin has appealed to the United States to lead the way towards establishing a permanent human colony on Mars.

The second man on the moon says much of the technology required for such a feat has already been developed, it just needs more testing.

Despite massive US budget constraints, Aldrin says the settlement should be running on the red planet in the next 30 years.

Will Ockenden reports.

(Archival excerpt of moon mission)

WILL OCKENDEN: It's 1969, the Apollo Lunar Module is heading towards the moon and the tension is high. Neil Armstrong's heart is pumping 118 times per minute. It gets up to 149 beats per minute at touchdown. It's still a few minutes from the landing, and flight control on Earth is checking systems.

WILL OCKENDEN: Buzz Aldrin, now 83 years old, hasn't stopped thinking about space. But he's sick of the moon, for him it's all about Mars.

BUZZ ALDRIN: It's been 44 years since we've stepped on the lunar surface and I think the progress is a little slow.

WILL OCKENDEN: He's one of the keynote speakers at a conference in Washington packed with space experts, all discussing the challenge of getting humans to the red planet.

CONFERENCE OFFICIAL: We, of Explore Mars, have organised this Humans to Mars summit to discuss each and every step necessary to get humans to Mars, finally.

WILL OCKENDEN: Buzz Aldrin has long argued that Mars deserves not only more attention, but a human base. He says for the people going, it shouldn't be a return journey.

BUZZ ALDRIN: I suggest that going to Mars means permanence on the planet, a mission by which we build up a confidence level to become a two planet species. At Mars we've been given a wonderful set of moons, two different choices from which we can preposition hardware, establish radiation shielding on the Mars, Martian surface to begin sustaining increasing numbers of people, not just one select group. We're gonna send continuous numbers of people.

WILL OCKENDEN: Buzz Aldrin's plan is to use NASA's rover and probe missions as way of testing equipment and procedures for any future human base.

BUZZ ALDRIN: We can choose to do what's easy and safe, or we can decide to do what's hard and make a difference.

WILL OCKENDEN: The plan roughly aligns with the Obama administration's space policy of sending humans to Mars orbit by the 2030s. As the administrator of NASA, Charles Bolden is the man tasked with delivering that goal.

CHARLES BOLDEN: A human mission to Mars is today the ultimate destination in our solar system for humanity, and it is a priority for NASA.

WILL OCKENDEN: Saying let's go to Mars is one thing, paying for it is another. When Buzz Aldrin went to the moon, it was paid for by the American taxpayer as part of a race to economic death with the former Soviet Union. These days it's different.

There is growing private sector interest in space exploration, and state budgets are under stress.

CHARLES BOLDEN: While NASA has not been immune to the economic downturn and the budget battles that have raged in Washington in recent years, we remain central in the president's strategy of investing in science, technology and innovation as essential to jump starting our economy and winning the future.

WILL OCKENDEN: Charles Bolden says NASA is still pushing boundaries. He says last year the agency received nearly 6,500 astronaut applications. Less than 20 will be selected.

Buzz Aldrin, whose first job application to NASA was rejected all those years ago, says it's vital the next generation of engineers, mathematicians and even artists are inspired.

BUZZ ALDRIN: Apollo is the story of people at their best. We started with a dream and we can do these kinds of things again. I know because I'm living proof that this can be done. Thank you very much.